The present invention relates to pipe handling devices and, more particularly, to semi-automatic reloadable rotary drill pipe storage and indexing system.
A significant amount of physical effort is expended for operators to transfer steel rotary drilling pipe sections from a storage location to and from a rotary drive unit.
Some conventional systems require the rotary drive unit to move the rotary drill pipe storage location, which involves additional physical effort to achieve the steps required as well as increased wear on moving parts.
Other conventional systems move the total number of rotary pipe sections located in the storage container all at once to the rotary drive unit. This method also involves several independent steps and requires moving the total weight of the storage container instead of one single drill pipe section at a time. This results in accelerated wear patterns on moving parts, changes in center of weight distribution and safety concerns due to the amount of weight being transferred in one movement.
As can be seen, there is a need for an improved pipe handling device that can safely and effectively move pipe sections as needed.